Fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, as the Army and Paramilitary Guards fight in a tense enclave
KHARTOUM, Sudan — The Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary group battled for control of the chaos-stricken nation for a second day Sunday, signaling they were unwilling to end hostilities despite mounting diplomatic pressure to cease fire.
Three days of conflict between two warring clans has left neighborhoods around the capital, Khartoum, feeling like a war zone. There have been at least 100 killed and at least 400 wounded in Sudan, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate. The World Food Program said on Sunday it would stop all operations in Sudan after three of its employees were killed in fighting.
The clashes capped months of heightened tensions between the military and its partner-turned-rival, the Rapid Support Forces group. The country’s transition to democracy was derailed by an October 2021, military coup, after the country failed to reach an agreement with political parties.
There were heavy fighting around the military headquarters, Khartoum International Airport and the state television headquarters on Sunday morning.
“The battles have not stopped,” she said from her family home close to the military headquarters. They are shooting at each other. It’s an all-out war in residential areas.”
Abass said her family spent the night huddling on the ground floor of their home. She said that the kids were crying and screaming because they couldn’t sleep. Sounds of gunfire were heard while she was speaking to The Associated Press.
Reports of clashes between the army and the Sudanese army in Khartoum: the United States, the Arab League and the United Arab Emirates
The military and the RSF both claimed to be in control of strategic locations in Khartoum and elsewhere in the county. Their claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Sudan’s army and civilian movement told CNN the main points of contention were the timelines for merging the forces, status of RSF officers in the future hierarchy, and if they should be under the command of the army chief.
The UN secretary general, the EU foreign policy chief, the head of the Arab League and the African Union Commission urged the sides to stop fighting. Members of the U.N. Security Council, at odds over other crises around the world, called for an immediate end of the hostilities and a return to dialogue.
Antony Blinken said he consulted with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He said that it was important for the parties to stop hostilities without pre-condition.
Human Rights Watch accused security forces under Burhan of the unlawful detention of hundreds of protesters and the forcible disappearances of scores of people following the coup in 2021.
Eyewitnesses in Khartoum told CNN on Monday they heard mortars and artillery in the early hours of the morning, with the fighting intensifying after dawn prayers in the direction of Khartoum International Airport and Sudanese Army garrison sites.
The burned remains of the General Command building can be seen in one video clip, while another shows military jets and helicopters hitting the airport.
On the status of Sudan’s military dictatorship, he warned against a civilian government and warned against raids by international aid organizations in the aftermath of the violence
Hospitals were suffering from shortages of specialized medical personnel according to the WHO. “Water and power cuts are affecting the functionality of health facilities, and shortages of fuel for hospital generators are also being reported,” the WHO said on Sunday.
He thought the army chief and his rival had lost control of the military. When it was put to him that he did not want Sudan to rule itself, he said that there should be a civilian government.
Amid the fighting, civilians have been warned to stay indoors. One local resident tweeted that they were “trapped inside our own homes with little to no protection at all.”
All we can hear is loud blasts. What exactly is happening and where we don’t know, but it feels like it’s directly over our heads,” they wrote.
The government-owned national TV channel is no longer on the air. Television employees told CNN that it’s in RSF’s hands.
The conflict has put other countries and organizations on high alert, with the United Nations’ World Food Program temporarily halting all operations in Sudan after three employees were killed in clashes on Saturday.
The international aid agency said the UN and other humanitarian facilities have been looted, while the WFP-managed aircraft was seriously damaged by gunfire in Khartoum.
The conflict in Sudan is going to get worse, and the United States is considering a diplomatic resummation in the next few months
Meanwhile, Mexico is working to evacuate its citizens from Sudan, with the country’s foreign minister saying Sunday it is looking to “expedite” their exit.
The United States embassy in Sudan said Sunday there were no plans for a government-coordinated evacuation yet for Americans in the country, citing the closure of the Khartoum airport. It told US citizens to stay indoors and that it would make an announcement if they were forced to leave.
The fresh clashes have prompted widespread calls for peace and negotiations. The head of the African Union Commission is expected to arrive in Khartoum on Monday in order to stop the fighting.
“People in Sudan want the military back in the barracks, they want democracy, they want a civilian-led government. Sudan needs to return to its former path, according to Antony on the sidelines of the G7 foreign minister talks.
The UN political mission in Sudan said the country’s two warring groups have agreed to a “proposal,” but it wasn’t clear what that meant.
Akinwotu’s War in Sudan Revisited: Armed General Relatives and the Role of the Military
There is heavy gunfire in the city. Military jets are over us all the time. There’s a small market nearby but there’s a shortage in food. She told up first that you can’t go out.
“In the end, that partnership did not define who would end up being on top,” Feltman says. “So what you have now is a fight to the death for who is going to prevail and should military rule continue in Sudan.”
When the civilian government was overthrown and the prime minister and his cabinet were jailed, it effectively derailed the Sudan’s effort toward democracy, according to Feltman.
During civilian protests and coups in Sudan, it is common for authorities to shut down internet access across the country. That has not happened this time, and Akinwotu’s reporting suggests that is because there’s a propaganda war going on, as well, and for that, both sides need the internet.
Feltman, who is the John C. Whitehead Visiting Fellow in International Diplomacy in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, says a cease-fire “should not lead to another process by which the belligerents are able to divvy up the spoils of power under the guise of stability.”